Laura Thompson Building The Yard in Public: Community, Coworking, Movement & Founder-Led Marketing

Laura Thompson, former Deloitte and EY strategic marketer with a dance and personal training background, shares how redundancy and her mother’s unexpected death pushed her to build in public. She now runs Connect Studio, helping founder-led businesses translate strategy into meaningful marketing, while developing The Yard, a “third space” in West Sussex for people to work, move, and belong unfiltered. Laura explains how perfectionism and corporate-style launches can delay progress, arguing instead for validating ideas early through conversations, small actions, and visible iteration. She describes recent steps—naming the concept, mood-boarding, contacting the council about buildings, using Claude for visual identity, and gathering proof of concept via networking. Next, she plans pilot sessions combining coworking in a coffee shop with a mid-morning PT workout, then repeating to build demand before seeking investors.00:00 Laura’s Origin Story00:51 Why Build in Public01:47 What Is The Yard03:32 Loss and Redundancy Catalyst04:58 Perfectionism and Corporate Fear07:33 Small Steps Over Big Launches10:03 Validation and Stakeholder Buy In11:38 Founder Accountability Systems15:47 Live Updates and Early Momentum16:23 Naming The Yard and Next Moves18:10 Using AI to Shape the Brand18:33 LLMs as Business Coaches18:53 Crafting a Vivid Vision21:04 Beating Fear and Self Talk22:42 Start Small in Public25:02 Past Projects and Pivots26:16 Next Steps for The Yard27:57 Build Demand Before Spending29:28 Mission Over Money30:49 Where to Find Laura31:29 Final Push to Post